SIR — After recent public concern about the way West Somerset District Council managed the consultation and decision making processes surrounding the relocation of its offices and the Minehead Key Sites Initiative, I was heartened by the council's apparent willingness to handle future consultations more openly and democratically. However, like most people who live and work in the area and care about the future of their own community, I do have more pressing things on my mind than monitoring every move the council makes. So I was taken by surprise when the its meetings of Monday July 11 were sprung on us through the columns of the West Somerset Free Press just three days beforehand. That just is not reasonable notice for working people. I would have liked to attend that meeting if for no other reason than to demonstrate to the council that local citizens are interested and do care about the way local affairs are run. However, I could not rearrange prior commitments at such short notice and was unable to attend. I know of others in a similar position. Maybe there were ways of finding out about this meeting earlier but most of us do not know our way around the finer points of local authority beaurocracy. Certainly I have checked the council's web site daily but there is no public notice there of these so- called "public meetings". Why go to the expense hiring such a large venue and then keep it secret until the last minute? Would I be cynical if I were to suggest that this was merely a ploy so that the council can claim to be involving the public whilst making it difficult for the public to find out what is going on in time to react? Despite recent promises, it would seem that West Somerset District Council continues to treat its electorate with contempt. J A S Dixon, Periton Road, Minehead.